AMIDA Action for More Independence and Dignity in Accommodation Annual Report 2014 Advocacy, Self-Advocacy, Rights, Accessibility, and Community Living for People with a Disability 1st Floor, Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000 Telephone: 9650 2722 Fax 9654 8575 Email: amida@amida.org.au Web: www.amida.org.au AMIDA Annual General Meeting 14th October 2014 AGENDA 10.00 Welcome Present/Apologies Endorsement of new members Confirm Minutes of the Previous AGM Chairperson's Report Activities Report – AMIDA advocacy, SARU, ARG Treasurer's Report Chair is handed over to Returning Officer for election of committee members 11.00 Guest Speaker – 12.00 Lunch 1.00 Close of meeting AMIDA Annual General Meeting 10th September, 2013 Present: Jonathan Dickinson, Norrie Blythman, Jane Rosengrave, Luke Stone, Simon Chong, Robert Munro, Maree Tucker, Timothy Elson, Kay Forstner, Sara Stevens, Daisy Serong, John Serong, Amanda Hiscoe, Susan Arthur, Brenda Lacey, Peter Waters, Ray Groves, Mary Reid, Nadia Shaw, Sue Smith, Pam Geoghegan, Pauline Williams, Gabrielle Dickinson Apologies: Lauren Rosewarne, Graeme Williams, Koula Sarimichaelidis, Colin Hiscoe, Rosie Furmeister, John Slattery, Janice Slattery Jane Rosengrave welcomed everyone to land of the Wurundjeri and paid respects to elders past and present. Norrie Blythman chaired the meeting. Minutes of Previous AGM: “that the minutes be accepted as a true and correct record” Moved – Norrie Blythman Seconded – Ray Groves Carried Chairperson’s Report: Presented by Norrie Blythman Moved – Norrie Seconded – Peter Waters Carried Activities Report: Presented by Pauline Williams Treasurer’s Report: Presented by Brenda Lacey ‘Special thanks to Koula, Pauline and Committee’ Moved – Brenda Lacey Seconded – Jane Rosengrave Carried Peter Waters spoke about the Audit process and thanked everyone for their work. Commended Norrie Blythman on his Chairmanship. Amanda Hiscoe congratulated AMIDA on its work over the years. Elections: The Chair was handed to Returning Officer, Pauline Williams. Pauline declared 16 vacancies in accordance with the Constitution. The Constitution states that the term for committee members is 2 years, and the term for the committee roles (decided at the first meeting after the AGM) is 1 year. Nominations have been received from: Peter Waters Brenda Lacey Norrie Blythman Simon Chong Luke Stone Nominations were called from the floor, and were received from: Kay Forstner Ray Groves “that the above nominations for the committee be accepted” Moved – Amanda Hiscoe Seconded – Tim Elson Carried The meeting was closed and our guest speaker, Sue Smith introduced Chairpersons Report Norrie Blythman This year AMIDA is 33 years old. And we continue to be better and better each year. So far the federal government continues to fund us through the National Disability Advocacy Program but we have been put on notice that change is in the air. We have also received funding from the Myer Foundation $9,000 for AMIDA’s Housing Know Your Rights Project and funding from the State government for the SARU (Self-Advocacy Resource Unit) with a further increase of $50,000 recurrent funding. The Raising Our Voices Radio Show continued into its 27th year with a variety of stories and people involved. The radio show continues to be important to our committee and to our members and the wider community, bringing information and entertainment to listeners. The Raising Our Voices planning group enjoy getting together to plan for future shows. We continue to be part of the peak body for advocacy organisations in Victoria, Disability Advocacy Victoria (DAV), with Simon Chong attending as the AMIDA representative. This is our 6th year as lead partner in the SARU - Self Advocacy Resource Unit. The four partners are Start Community Art, AMIDA, Reinforce and Brain Injury Matters. For AMIDA, our role has included managing the finances, employing staff, attending meetings with the funding body and being represented on the Project Management Group. The SARU continues to be a very valuable service, providing support, training and information to self-advocacy groups within Victoria. AMIDA participated in the celebration of 21 years since the closure of the institution, Caloola. This was a great success bringing many people together and with many catching up with people they hadn’t seen in years. Our goal as always is to improve the lives of people with a disability. Since planning the Caloola 21 began, the State government has given money to close the Oakleigh Centre, Sandhurst and more 20 residents of Colanda into the community. AMIDA has done a lot of work this year on improving the quality of our work, the Committee has worked really hard reviewing all of our policies and planning and reviewing our priorities on a more regular basis. We had to carefully look at how we work and make sure we are doing all that is required to provide a great service to people with a disability. We talk about this at most meetings. Many of the people we worked with gave us feedback and we thank them for this. To check we are doing a great job AMIDA was audited again this year, and we had an excellent response from the auditors for the work we do. We would like to thank all of those we provided advocacy to who participated in the audit this year as their comments have ensured our successful audit outcome. Finally, I would like to thank the other Committee members for all their efforts and support throughout the year, and also the workers for the great work they have done. We are a good team and work hard. Norrie Blythman Chairperson AMIDA acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government AMIDA also acknowledges the support of the Commonwealth Government. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Norrie Blythman Chairperson Graeme Williams Vice Chairperson Brenda Lacey Treasurer Peter Waters Secretary/Public Officer Simon Chong Committee Member Tim Elson Committee Member Lauren Rosewarne Committee Member Kay Forstner Committee Member Luke Stone Committee Member Ray Groves Committee Member AMIDA WORKERS Gabrielle Dickinson Housing Rights/Coordinator Pauline Williams Housing Rights/Coordinator Pam Geoghegan Housing Rights Advocate Koula Sarimichaelidis Administration/Finance Gab Reade Radio Technical Producer Mary Reid Project Worker CRU Rights Jane Rosengrave Peer Educator/Advisor Amanda Millear Peer Educator/Advisor Nadia Shaw CRU Rights support worker Self-Advocacy Resource Unit Sue Smith SARU Project Worker Jacqui Ward SARU Project Worker Jan Coles SARU Project Worker Dean Dadson SARU Project Worker Heidi Peart SARU Project Worker Michael Buckley Film maker and Project Worker ARG Lisa Brumtis Actor/Peer advisor Colin Hiscoe Actor/Peer advisor Peta Ferguson Peer Advisor Neil Cameron Peer Advisor Rebecca Biddle Peer Advisor Activities Report – 2013/14 Systemic Advocacy Supported Living In AMIDA’s view despite the fact that Australia has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability, we are very far from complying with it. A number of the articles in the Convention relate to people being able to live in the community. Article 19 is the right to live independently and be included in the community, choosing where you live and who you live with. In Australia there is no real choice for most people with a disability requiring support. Group homes and Institutions for people with a disability are places where around 15,000 Victorians with a disability live in order to receive needed support. With thousands waiting for a support service, people are forced to accept any vacancy that is offered. We continue to lobby for more person centred support provision and affordable, accessible housing, which is managed separately from support. We continued our partnership with La Trobe University in research into supported living for people with an intellectual disability to find out how people who are living independently in the community are supported and what successful support looks like. The aim is better support and community living for people with a disability so they can have an improvement in their lives. Closure of Institutions After much planning and preparation, including assistance from AMIDA, the Office of the Public Advocate event commemorating 21 years since the closure of the institution known as Caloola took place in November 2013. It included presentations by Graeme Williams, an AMIDA committee member, who lived in Caloola and happily has had an improved life in the community for many years. Chris Borthwick, Graeme Williams and Kate Kennedy The event was well attended and was an opportunity to call for the closure of the remaining institutions in Victoria and to highlight the successful lives in the community that many former residents have led since the closure. Since planning began for the event the State government has announced funding for the closure of Sandhurst and following the event they have announced funding for the closure of the Oakleigh centre and for 20 residents of Colanda to move into group homes in the community. While there will still be around 60 people living at Colanda the Parliamentary secretary, Ms Andrea Coote said at the event that, “Colanda will close.” Kaye Setches, the government Minister who closed Caloola greets Daisy Serong who lived in Caloola. We will continue to advocate for all people with a disability living in congregated segregated settings to be supported to live in the community and given the choice of where they live and who they live with. We must finish the job of closing all institutions but for now we are celebrating the closure of two more Victorian institutions, Sandhurst and the Oakleigh Centre and that 20 residents of Colanda are getting out into the Celebrating 21 years since Caloola closed community very soon. Improving Accommodation We also continued to lobby for more and better Public Housing. We are concerned that the State and Federal Governments have not funded this adequately and are selling it off and handing 12.000 units over to Housing Associations. Tenancy Rights Although our Department of Human Services (DHS) funding was not renewed we continued to inform and empower people living in Group Homes. This was done with a $9000 grant from the Myer foundation and AMIDA contribution from our own fundraising. The Housing Know Your Rights presentations this year continued in group houses and day services following on from the mail out of around 1000 booklet/DVDs to all the Community Residential Units in Victoria. The DVD explains residential rights, how to ask for your rights and how to get advocacy support. Raising Our Voices radio show 2013/14 has been our 27th year of supporting people with a disability having the opportunity to be involved in the Raising Our Voices radio show on 3CR 855am. This is a self-advocacy activity which gives people the opportunity to air their views, their own stories and also tackles systemic issues. The show goes to air on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 6pm and is supported by a dedicated team of broadcasters from Reinforce and AMIDA. Topics this year have included: • Live Radiothon show • Interview with Jane and members of Open Place about children who grew up in institutions. • James interviews a member of the Stroke Foundation • Amanda and Susan talk about Public Housing and the Carbon Tax Supplement • Susan and Andrew talk about the Powerful Parenting self-advocacy group. • Institutions and why they should close. James talks to Ray and Terry who are survivors. • Highlights from the 21st Anniversary celebration of the closure of Caloola and institution for people with a disability including Graeme Williams, Chris Borthwick and Kate Kennedy. • Kay Setches was the Minister responsible when Caloola closed and she talks about that time and the barriers to closure. • Lisa and Peta from Brain Injury Matters, a self-advocacy group, talk about the issues they address. • Art and Accessibility with Brenda and the United Nations Convention on the rights of Persons with a disability with Jacquie. • Norrie, Luke and Tim talk to public transport users and look at the issues in detail. • Maria, Norrie and Tim talk to Kairsty from Association of Employees with a Disability (AED) about discrimination of workers with a disability. Thanks to everyone who participated and aired issues important to people with a disability. There are always many people with a disability directly involved in the planning, presentation and interviewing for the show. Thanks to Gab Reade, our wonderful technical producer. Thanks also to 3CR. Copies of the shows are available on CD. Shows can be listened to live on your computer if your radio doesn’t pick up 3CR. Just go to www.3cr.org.au We also have podcasts of the show on our website www.amida.org.au . We produced a special anniversary CD to celebrate Raising Our Voices, 25 years strong on 3CR 855am. You can get free copies from AMIDA. Information, Advice, Referral and Individual Advocacy During 2013/14 we continued to provide information, advice, referral and individual advocacy to people with a disability. We were able to provide information, advice and referral to 104 people with a disability and community organisations. 39 people were provided with information as part of education sessions. 30 people were provided with direct individual advocacy, family advocacy or self-advocacy support. Disseminating information about AMIDA and improving access to AMIDA We again produced 4 newsletters. We have tried to include important information that we receive from government and the community as well as our own activities. Thanks to all the members who made contributions as these are most welcome. The newsletters are on our web site www.amida.org.au AMIDA website continues to evolve so check it out as we will provide more up to date information on our work and useful information from the community – www.amida.org.au The Self Advocacy Resource Unit AMIDA continues to support the SARU and the last 12 months have been very busy. As well as our ongoing project workers Sue Smith and Jacqui Ward we are thrilled to let everyone know that project worker Dean Dadson has accepted a permanent part-time position with SARU. Why Self Advocacy Matters Forums One of the big successes for the year was the two “Why Self Advocacy Matters” forums. The first forum was held in Melbourne in November last year and over one hundred people attended. Andrea Coote Parliamentary Secretary for Family and Community Services opened the forum by announcing an increase in funding for SARU. At the forum self-advocates gave presentations about ‘Why self-advocacy matters”. The audience included government, service providers, and advocacy services. The second forum held in Bendigo was also very successful and has led to lots of great things happening for self-advocacy in that area. Self-advocacy roadshow In November and December last year SARU took the Self Advocacy Roadshow to Shepparton, Bendigo and Kyneton. We supported self-advocacy groups to hold events including forums, information sessions, presentations and poster making. Victorian Self Advocacy Network Another fantastic thing that happened in 2013 was the launch of the Victorian Self Advocacy Network or VSAN. The VSAN was launched by Arthur Rogers Deputy Secretary Social Housing and NDIS Reform and Director of Housing. The VSAN now has 10 members and hopes that more groups will join soon. Thanks to the VSAN start up committee Colin Hiscoe, Luke Nelson, Susan Arthur, Peta Ferguson, and Christian Astourian for all their hard work in getting the VSAN up and running! Pssstt!! Have you heard about the Convention? The Pssstt!! Kit was finally finished and given out to all of the self-advocacy groups supported by SARU. The kit provides information about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The kit includes a fantastic and fun DVD, a UNCRPD word game book, UN Bingo, a book that explains all about the UNCRPD using easy English and interesting fact and information sheets. Dangerous Deeds SARU is working with stART Community Art and Diversity and Disability to create an arts exhibition that tells the story of the disability movement and advocacy and self-advocacy in Victoria. Self-advocacy groups and self-advocates will be involved in the project. All of the art work will go into an accessible exhibition. Other highlights Other highlights over the past 12 months have included: • A forum about how self-advocates can use the Victorian State Disability plan for advocacy. • Supporting new groups to start in Lower Hume region and Southern region. • Supporting groups with strategic planning • Supporting groups to make their own resources Group Round Up Some of the great work groups have been doing includes: • New Horizons – produced a video about bullying. • Self-Advocacy NDIS Group- is working to make sure people with a disability have a real voice in the NDIS and that funding and support for self-advocacy groups continues into the future. • Deafblind Victorians – presented at the 10th Helen Keller World Conference held in the Philippines. • Having A Say - worked with SARU to run the Bendigo Why Self Advocacy Matters forum • United Brains - got their website up and running • Brain Injury Matters - held a very successful event in the Melbourne town hall as part of Brain Injury Awareness week. • New Wave – continues to spread the word about self-advocacy and how it can change lives. • Reinforce - successfully getting funding to run rights training for staff working in group homes For more information about the SARU go to www.saru.net.au Act Resources Guide (ARG) Project Another of the projects AMIDA auspices for the Self Advocacy Re-Born Consortium is the Act Resources Guide Project (previously called the Act Resources Group). The project is about creating accessible information for people with a disability about the Victorian Disability Act 2006. The main resource is a website which has a lot of information about the Act and people’s rights. The site includes videos, written information and links to other resources. The website www.actresources.com.au is also a great resource for families, carers and workers. The website is continually updated This year the project workers Dean Dadson and Michael Buckley have worked with people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to create more videos about their stories; linked in and partnered with the First People’s Disability Network and the Victorian Aboriginal Disability Network to look at how to get information to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a disability and find out what resources might be developed; worked with VicDeaf to get more videos Auslan signed; put together a travelling mini exhibition and promoted the project at various conferences and forums including the Why Self Advocacy Matters forums in Melbourne and Bendigo and the Having a Say Conference in Geelong. Treasurers Report Brenda Lacey AMIDA finished the financial year 2013/14 in a healthy position. Our reports are consolidated into one report as this is a requirement of Consumer Affairs. The reports show a net loss of $81,977 but this is because we have been funded in previous financial years for projects we spent money to operate this year. We have retained profits of $185,495 which includes grants that are being spent over more than one year and other provisions. AMIDA continues to receive funding from the Commonwealth Department of Social Services under the National Disability Advocacy Program. We receive funding from the State Department of Human Services through the Office for Disability for the Self Advocacy Resource Unit. Overall the financial position of AMIDA, and the projects it supports, is a healthy one and we are in a position to meet all our obligations.